At just 20, Jude Bellingham gives the impression of a generational sportsman whose career has been mapped out from infancy.
He has already moved seamlessly from hometown club Birmingham to Borussia Dortmund, among the best developers of young talent in Europe, and now on to the biggest stage of all at Real Madrid.
His rise has occasionally appeared scripted, which will rarely have felt more true than in Saturday’s Wembley showpiece.
At the end of a remarkable first season at Madrid, in which he inspired them to the Spanish title and was named La Liga’s player of the year, Bellingham has the chance to not only win the biggest prize in club football, but to do so against his former club and in his national stadium.
Winning the Champions League so soon after joining Los Blancos and in such dream circumstances would just feel like another step on this latest Galactico’s inevitable journey to becoming one of the game’s modern greats.
And, as if that possibility were not enough, barring mishap Bellingham will star for England at this summer’s European Championship, where he has an opportunity to immortalise his name by winning the tournament with Gareth Southgate’s well-fancied side.
Lifting either or both trophies would make him the favourite for the 2024 Ballon d’Or. Again, being named the world’s best player has long felt like part of Bellingham’s destiny, such is his quality, mentality and maturity, although even his most committed backers would agree that he is ahead of schedule.
Bellingham joined Madrid last summer with occasions like Saturday’s in mind and, though he will be treading new ground, the Spanish side are aiming to extend their dominance in the European Cup by winning the competition for a 15th time, with boss Carlo Ancelotti aiming for a seventh title as a player and coach.
Eclipsing Gareth Bale’s five European Cups and enormous impact in the finals would be tough, but the Welshman was never the main man at the Bernabeu.
While Bale was always in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo, Bellingham is already a superstar at Madrid in a way Bale, Steve McManaman and even David Beckham, who never won the Champions League with the club, simply were not. He is the heartbeat of Ancelotti’s team and looked at by team-mates with a kind of deference which belies his age.
Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Toni Kroos, who will play his last club game on Saturday, can be expected to provide the ballast for Bellingham as usual, with the England star set to play as a high No10 in support of forwards Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo.
Edin Terzic’s Dortmund are firm underdogs, but they kept out Kylian Mbappe over both legs of their semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain and will reason that they can therefore keep out Bellingham and Co.
Madrid, though, have a power in this competition which so often feels inevitable, underscored by their late semi-final win over Bayern Munich.
Dortmund do have weapons of their own, notably in Jadon Sancho, who is eyeing redemption — not least because he is returning to Wembley for the first time since missing a penalty in England’s shootout defeat in the final of Euro 2020.
Being named the world’s best player has long felt like part of Bellingham’s destiny, although he is well ahead of schedule
Sancho was being forced to train and eat alone at Manchester United as recently as January, but he has been rejuvenated since returning to Dortmund on loan. Whatever happens on Saturday, Sancho has already rebuilt his reputation and career, his performance in the first leg of their semi-final a reminder that he remains a game-changer at the highest level.
While Madrid will say goodbye to Kroos after 10 years at the club, the occasion will also mark the last game of Dortmund’s own legendary German midfielder, Marco Reus.
The pair’s impending retirements are among the many great individual storylines which could shape tomorrow’s contest, but none is more compelling than Bellingham’s continued rise.
